In
the featured cartoon, Santa Claus is about to deliver Christmas presents
to the six children of President Theodore Roosevelt:Alice (17 years old), Theodore Jr. (14), Kermit (12), Ethel (10),
Archibald (7), and Quentin (4).Santa’s
expression of pleasant surprise upon learning that so many children were
at the White House reflects the fact that the children of past
presidents had usually been adult or fewer in number when their fathers
occupied the White House.The
three babies of Grover Cleveland had charmed the American public during
his second administration (1893-1897), but here in 1901 was a bevy of
boisterous children who could really enjoy the holiday season.It was the first Christmas at the White House for the nation’s
youngest president (43) and his family.

President Roosevelt brought the
same dynamism that he displayed in politics and sports to his role as
father.He loved his
children dearly and spent as much time with them as possible, even with
the weighty demands of the presidency.“I love all these children and have great fun with them, and I
am touched by the way in which they feel I am their special friend,
champion and companion,” he wrote to his sister-in-law.He played games and sports with them, took them hiking and
picnicking, read them bedtime stories, joyfully indulged their many
household pets, and joined them in pillow fights.As his friend Cecil Spring Rice aptly characterized Roosevelt,
“You must always remember that the President is about six.”Roosevelt had grown up in a close and affectionate family, and
enthusiastically followed that example with his own children.He revealed to his sister, Bamie, that he had “the happiest
home life of any man whom I have ever known.”

Tragedy, though, had struck the
optimistic Roosevelt in his early adulthood.On February 12, 1884, a telegram reached Roosevelt in Albany, New
York, where he was a Republican assemblyman, bringing him
the good news of the birth of his first child, Alice Lee.A few hours later, a second telegram informed him that his wife,
Alice, and mother, Mittie, were both dying, so he took the next train
for Manhattan.His mother succumbed to typhoid fever early the next morning,
but he was able to hold his wife during her last hours before she died
of Bright’s Disease the following afternoon.He was devastated by the loss, and entrusted the care of “Baby
Lee” to his sister.In
1886, he married Edith Carow, and they had five children.

The Roosevelts unsuccessfully
tried to shield their children from the press, but Alice loved the
limelight.During the White
House years, she was a beautiful young lady who captivated the American
public.After she
christened a ship in Philadelphia for the German royal family, the press
nicknamed her “Princess Alice,” and the blue-gray color of her dress
inspired the clothing industry to manufacture “Alice Blue” dresses
and Tin Pan Alley to publish a popular tune called “Alice Blue
Gown.”In 1902, her formal debut at the White House was attended by
600 guests.Alice’s
strong, independent will prompted considerable commentary, but when the
president was asked why he did not try to control her behavior, he
explained, “I can be president of the United States, or I can attend
to Alice.”In truth, he
was quite pleased with his eldest daughter.His confidence in her was such that he dispatched her as his
personal representative to Puerto Rico in 1903 and the Far East in 1905.

On February 17, 1906, Alice
married Congressman Nicholas Longworth (later speaker of the house) in a
spectacular wedding at the White House.In adulthood, Alice became a fixture in Washington society where
she was called “Washington’s other monument.”Delighting and offending numerous people with her lively and
caustic wit—“If you can’t say something good about someone, sit
right here by me”—she famously described Republican president
nominee Thomas Dewey (1944, 1948) as the little plastic man on the
wedding cake.Alice
Roosevelt Longworth was the longest-lived of Theodore Roosevelt’s six
children, dying in 1980 at the age of 96.

Unlike Alice, Ted (Theodore
Jr.) hated the press's scrutiny of the Roosevelt children. He
was particularly embarrassed when newspapers reported his bout with
pneumonia while attending Groton prep school (where he was already
enrolled when his father became president).When the press continued to hound the young man after he entered
Harvard, Roosevelt fired off a letter of complaint to the university’s
president.Roosevelt was very concerned that his sons would face undue
pressure because of his notoriety.As all of his sons entered Groton and then Harvard, the president
kept up a steady correspondence of advice and encouragement.He told them to enjoy life, but also to work hard and “do
something worthwhile” with their lives.

Ted, who had been dissuaded
from entering West Point, served in both world wars, earning a
Congressional Medal of Honor for his role as a brigadier general in
World War II.Besides his
military service, Ted followed in his father’s footsteps by serving as
assistant secretary of the Navy and entering elective politics (he lost
the New York governorship to Al Smith in 1924).He also served as governor of Puerto Rico (1929-1932),
governor-general of the Philippines (1932-1933), and vice president of
Doubleday Books.He died of
a heart attack in Normandy, France, shortly after D-Day in July 1944.

Kermit shared his father’s
love for nature and outdoor sports, accompanying the elder Roosevelt on
hunting trips to Africa and Brazil, and later exploring untamed
wildernesses across the world and serving as president of the Audubon
Society.He founded two
steamship lines, and served in the British Army in both world wars
before transferring to the American Army after the U.S. entered the
wars.Unfortunately, he
also suffered from alcoholism and depression, which resulted in his
suicide while on duty in Alaska in 1943.

Ethel married a surgeon, Dr.
Richard Derby, whom she accompanied in 1914 to France, where she worked
as a nurse for the American Ambulance Hospital during World War I (the
first of Roosevelt’s children to serve in the war).After the war, she raised a family, worked with the American Red
Cross, and was involved with numerous church and community activities in
Oyster Bay, site of the Roosevelt family estate, Sagamore Hill, which
she helped preserve as a faithful member of the Theodore Roosevelt
Association.Local
residents fondly referred to her as the "Queen of Oyster Bay."

Most of the White House
hi-jinks for which the Roosevelt children became famous were committed
by the two youngest boys, Archie and Quentin.Archie informally joined the White House police squad, attending
roll call every morning.Once,
when he became ill, Quentin smuggled his brother’s favorite pony into
the White House and up the elevator for a visit with the ailing Archie.Quentin was captain of a baseball team, which practiced on the
White House lawn, and organized five of his friends into the White House
Gang.Like his older
brothers, Archie served in both world wars, receiving the Croix de
Guerre in World War I and the Silver Star in World War II.He worked as a financier, establishing the firm of Roosevelt
& Weigold.Quentin left
Harvard to become an aviator in World War I, but was shot down and
killed in France in 1918.

On
January 6, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt, father and former president, died
in his sleep at Sagamore Hill.Later that year, his book Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to
His Children became a national bestseller.Although he did not live to see its publication, he told the
editor that he “would rather have this book published than anything
that has ever been written about me.”